King Country searches for ways to save public health clinics from the budget ax

Most of King County’s 10 public health centers will have to close next year unless the county comes up with a budget fix soon.

The clinics provide primary care, maternal support, substance use treatment, and more. They serve people who use Medicaid or don’t have adequate health insurance.

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Many of the patients don’t speak English, and a sizable portion are experiencing homelessness. About two thirds of the patients are people of color.

The county’s public health clinics serve “people who are historically underserved by mainstream healthcare systems, due to barriers such as racism, language, violence and homelessness,” a public health spokesperson wrote in an email.

“No one place has the ability to just absorb the care for all of the folks that we’ve been serving, and certainly not in the same way that we have,” said Robin Ginnis, a social worker at King County’s Eastside clinic. “They know us; they trust us. And that is not something that can easily be transferred with a medical record.”

Ginnis said the clinics also provide services like vaccinations and family planning, which benefit the health of the whole community.

“Aside from serving the folks that we are serving, it would be such a detriment to community health if we had to close down,” Ginnis said. “Part of the reason that our county had such a good response to Covid was because we had this standing public health force.”

King County faces a $35 million budget shortfall for 2025, and most of the cuts will have to be to programs funded by the general fund, which comes from property taxes. The county’s public health clinics rely on the general fund for $25 million annually.

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King County Executive Dow Constantine sounded the alarm about the budget shortfall last year, but the county didn’t get the fix it wanted from the state Legislature. A bill to raise property taxes above the 1% yearly cap failed.

The Executive’s Office is now working on other options to present to the County Council in early May. That could include a ballot measure for voters.

Absent a solution, Constantine would announce specific details of which clinics need to close at the end of September.

Clarification notice, 12:45 p.m. on Tuesday, 4/30/2024: This article was updated to clarify that the clinics provide maternal support to pregnant women until their babies are two months old. The only county public health clinic that provides medical prenatal care, with services like ultrasounds and blood pressure management, is the Downtown Public Health Center.